Remembrance Of Things Past/In Search Of Lost Time by Proust. Never read it. I’d be hoping it’s as good as they say it is. If it isn’t, what a time to find out!

3 – you took a chance on and were pleasantly surprised by

Most recently, The Girlfriend by Michelle Frances. I usually avoid thrillers that have subtitles like ‘The most gripping psychological thriller since the last most gripping psychological thriller’. And I write psychological thrillers!

4 – you’ve written that is your favourite

So far, my only published novel is Rowan’s Well, a psychological suspense. I’m very fond of it, especially as it’s just won a Chill With A Book Readers’ Award and been shortlisted in the Words With Jam First Page Competition.

5 – that has influenced you most as a person

Anne Of Green Gables by LM Montgomery. As a child, Anne Shirley was my hero and role-model. She faced the world bravely, with love and humour, and had a rich imagination. I confess, she’s still my hero.

6 – that has influenced you most as a professional

If you mean books about how to write, then Stephen King’s On Writing is a must-read. I also love Steering The Craft: A 21st-Century Guide To Sailing The Sea Of Story by Ursula K. Le Guin

7 – of yours that prospective readers should start with if they want to get to know your work and where they can get it.

‘A sophisticated, compelling thriller’ ‘I couldn’t put it down’ ‘Gripping to the last page’ ‘Extraordinary and uncompromising’ ‘Compelling family drama that wouldn’t be out of place as a BBC drama’ ‘Had me in its thrilling spell’ ‘Highly recommend!’ – Amazon reviews

I’m about to publish Fitful Head, a modern ghost story. Imagine you lose your mind, and something’s waiting to take its place. Widow Isobel Hickey thinks she’s being haunted by her husband, but she’s wrong.

Even before publication, Fitful Head has been runner-up in the prestigious Writing On The Wall Pulp Idol contest and shortlisted in the huge UK-NWC competition where it was placed 11th from 3,112 entries.

Keep an eye on my website for details of release date and pre-order. I’ll soon be publishing a taster short story The Haydock Haunting. Read it if you dare.

I’ve dissected human bodies in Sheffield, shushed library-users in Wigan, shared poetry in Liverpool, organised bedbaths in Salford. Now I live in Manchester,UK, and help folk connect with their creativity through writing. I have a degree in Literature and Philosophy, I’m mother to two adults, wife to one and slave to two tiny dogs.

Please note I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon sites.

A man who has worked with psychopaths and their victims in prison and private practice.

A man who has been publishing articles and books on psychology and related subjects for over twenty-five years.

And, more importantly, a man who named John’s Wyndham’s Day of the Triffids as one of his book choices. For which, I almost vetoed his interview.

Why? I have an irrational fear of sunflowers, which I can only explain by watching that film at an early age.

(Considerate ‘friends’ have sent me postcards of sunflowers with ‘we’re watching you‘ and ‘we know where you live‘ written on the back.)

Good people of the Internet, writing out of Marree in Southern Australia – Leo Nix

Name one book:

1 – everyone should read

I’ve read thousands of books since I was a kid but there is one that does stand out above the rest: Bryce Courtenay’s The Power of One. A story set in South Africa during the 1930’s and 40’s during those terrible apartheid years. It’s about a small boy raised by his single mother but spends most of his time with an elderly neighbour who teaches him how to live. He meets up with a native boxing trainer in the prisons and learns to box. Boxing is his entry into manhood and makes for a good backdrop to the various racial and social tensions in the country. It’s strongly character driven set against the violent background of those torrid years in South Africa’s history.

2 – you would take with you if you were going to be marooned on Mars

Well, I guess I’ll have plenty of time to catch up on my reading. If I was to take a book to enjoy I’d take Shike a two volume series by Robert Shea. Robert Shea writes the story of a young Zen monk, a Zinja, and the struggles he is put through by his religious order to escort a young princess across the country. It is a rites-of-passage adventure, some lovely martial arts and swordplay which illustrates Japan of the samurai era. It has powerful characters and a story backdrop of intrigue and violence, loyalty, love and honour. I’ve read the series quite a few times over the years and can easily pick it up and enjoy it all over again.

3 – you took a chance on and were pleasantly surprised by

Chris Harris’ UK Dark Series – UKD1. A post-apocalypse series set in the UK. I fell in love with post-apocalypse books after I read John Wyndham’s The Day of The Triffids at school a long time ago. Since then I’ve been hooked on post-apocalypse stories. Chris’s writing style is easy to read and his stories simple, uncomplicated and highly plausible. I haven’t read all his books, I’ve only just finished book 1, but I’m looking forward to reading the rest.

4 – you’ve written that is your favourite

I write both non-fiction and fiction. I found that my writer’s ‘voice’ has changed since I started writing fiction. Now that I’m about to start writing another non-fiction book on psychotherapy for PTSD and anxiety, I’m actually looking forward to see how I write in the more formal format of a self help genre.

But to get to your question, the third book in my series, Sundown Apocalypse 3: Homeland Defense, I thought was slightly more aggressive and emotionally hard hitting than the first two. Homeland Defense sees one of my female protagonists run a mission into the middle of the terrorist township of Mount Isa, northern Queensland, Australia. She’s a tough girl but the events of book 3 lead to some PTSD of her own in book 4 which comes out on the 2nd July.

5 – that has influenced you most as a person

The Red Chief by Ion Idriess, the true story of an Australian aboriginal chief passed down from generation to generation. It was recorded almost word for word from the last surviving full-blooded member of the Gunnedah tribe in the early 1950’s. A story of a young man who reaches warriorhood amid the greed and vindictiveness of his tribal leaders. Beautifully written by Ion L. Idriess, a prospector and bushman who write fifty odd books on Australian aborigines early last century. If anyone wants to learn how the Australian aborigines lived and loved before white settlement, this is a book they should be reading.

6 – that has influenced you most as a professional

As a professional author, Devon C Ford’s After It Happened post-apocalypse series. A friend suggested I have a look at his books and I fell in love with the series. By the time I’d read book 3 I was convinced I had to write my own post-apocalypse books. I look for strong character-driven novels with challenging settings which push the characters to face up to and overcome adversity, Devon’s books have that.

7 – of yours that prospective readers should start with if they want to get to know your work and where they can get it.

Book 1 of my Sundown Apocalypse series, simply called, Sundown Apocalypse. It’s available on Amazon. Set in the harsh, central Australian deserts, the ‘red centre’. I like to spend time working on character development, pushing them through hell and back again to illuminate their growth as valuable members of their community. As a psychologist this is what challenges me most, to demonstrate how individuals can change and grow despite the horrors of a violent, psychopathic environment. Despite the difficulties they face they can still find time for love and deep friendships. If you like Australia and deserts wrapped into a post-apocalypse setting, this is for you.

Leo Nix is a psychologist who has worked with psychopaths and their victims in the prison system and in private practice. Through his writing he endeavours to bring to life real people in their struggle for survival against extreme adversity. He has a wife who actually enjoys reading his books, three children and two delightful grand children, plus a cat with no tail called ‘Piggy’.

Please note I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon sites.

This week the One Book Interview brings you a life-long horror enthusiast writing out of the Northeast of England. (Somewhere near Winterfell, I think.)

A writer who “enjoys exploring the darknesses and weaknesses within the human psyche,” Rachael enjoys reading works by Shirley Jackson, John Ajvide Lindqvist, Joe Hill, Susan Hill, Ramsey Bolton Campbell (Two ASOIAF jokes in as many paragraphs. I’m on a roll!), Stephen King (AKA The Man) and George R. R. Martin.

Good people of the Internet, the horror author that is Rachael Dixon.

Name one book:

1 – everyone should read

Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Stoker manages to stoke the imagination of the reader with a classic tale that’s filled with fear, hope, love, lust, dread and vampires. Need I say more?

2 – you would take with you if you were going to be marooned on Mars

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson. It’s a very short book, but it’s quirky, funny and disturbing in equal measure. I doubt I’d ever get bored of reading it. The main character, Merricat, is as mad as a box of frogs, so I reckon she’d be wonderful company to have with me on Mars.

3 – you took a chance on and were pleasantly surprised by

A Game of Thrones by George R R Martin. Usually I don’t read epic fantasy, but wow this really paid off. So much so I went on to devour the rest of the A Song of Ice & Fire books and can’t wait till the next one is out!

4 – you’ve written that is your favourite

My latest novel, A Storytelling of Ravens. I had a lot of fun writing it and I think this really shows. I took the idea of four people being stranded in a cabin in the woods and let it run in all directions. The story has an immediate energy and doesn’t let up till the last page.

5 – that has influenced you most as a person

Fluke by James Herbert. I read it when I was about ten, when I was craving more than just children’s books. It inspired me greatly and gave me a thirst for the horror genre. I knew as soon as I’d finished reading it that that was what I wanted to do with my life: write horror fiction.

6 – that has influenced you most as a professional

Again, going back to Shirley Jackson: The Haunting of Hill House. Jackson writes the kind of horror that I prefer. Very character driven, psychological stuff. The anthropomorphism associated with Hill House and the ambivalent nature of Eleanor, the main character, makes the story very subjective and personal to the reader. As in, the reader can take from it what they will.

7 – of yours that prospective readers should start with if they want to get to know your work and where they can get it.

Emergence, my debut horror novel. It’s the story of a young widower who has to look to his ambiguous past in order to save his little girl from an unknown evil. It’s based in my hometown in the northeast of England, and this, I think, lends the story a certain grittiness and dose of believability.

After a hiatus of a couple of weeks, a few book reviews and other such literary shenanigans, the One Book Interview is back in its regular slot (and a few of our old favourites are back in the book choices).

This week, I’m very happy to have a factory worker, a delivery driver, a singer/songwriter, a sailor, and various other professionals all hiding in the past of a storyteller writing out of southern California.

Good people of the Internet, the horror author that is Israel Finn.

Name one book:

1 – everyone should read

Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl. It’s poignant, philosophical, entertaining, and still highly relevant in this day and age. If more people were to look out through the eyes of that wonderful young girl, perhaps some of the hatred might subside in the world.

2 – you would take with you if you were going to be marooned on Mars

The Martian by Andy Weir. Duh!

3 – you took a chance on and were pleasantly surprised by

Bird Box by Josh Malerman. Josh was relatively unknown as an author when the novel came out but I’d heard good things. I found out before I read it that he was the lead singer of one of my favorite bands, The High Strung, so I was even more intrigued. After reading it, he immediately became one of my favorite authors as well. Bird Box is a fresh, original horror story that filled me full of dread and kept me feverishly turning pages until the end. It’s one of the best horror novels out there.

4 – you’ve written that is your favourite

My collection of dark fiction, Dreaming At the Top of My Lungs. I’ve written others, but it’s the first one I felt was worthy of being published. And I’d say I made the right decision, because it’s been very well received. And several of the stories in the book are near and dear to my heart, as they’ve become with many of my readers.

5 – that has influenced you most as a person

Again, I’d have to say Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl, and for the reasons I mentioned before.

6 – that has influenced you most as a professional

Okay, I’m going to bend the rules here and mention two books. On the art side of things, I’ll say The Stand by Stephen King. I’d been writing off and on for years before I read it, but that novel helped me to find my own voice as a writer. On the craft side, I’ve got to go with something I read recently called Thrill Me: Essays On Fiction by Benjamin Percy. I’ve read a ton of books on writing, many of which were wonderful. But Percy’s book is the best I’ve ever read. He puts things across in such a concise, down-to-earth way that you can’t help but have your eyes opened to the hows and whys of fiction writing.

7 – of yours that prospective readers should start with if they want to get to know your work and where they can get it.

Israel Finn is a horror, dark fantasy, and speculative fiction writer, and a winner of the 80th Annual Writer’s Digest Short Story Competition.

He’s had a life-long love affair with books, and was weaned on authors such as Kurt Vonnegut, Ray Bradbury, Richard Matheson, Arthur C. Clarke and H.G. Wells. Books were always strewn everywhere about the big white house in the Midwest where he grew up.

Later, he discovered Robert McCammon, Dean Koontz, F. Paul Wilson, Dan Simmons, Ramsey Campbell, and Stephen King, as well as several others, and the die was indelibly cast.

Hot on the heels of last week’s 18th birthday celebration, the One Book Interview is back to business as usual. Today, I’m very happy to be taking part in a book tour for an exciting author by the name of Jason Parent. His new book A Life Removed is out now. I had the pleasure of reading an advance copy not so long ago. You can find out what I thought of it tomorrow, but for now, here is a taste of what Jason likes to read when he’s not writing. (Interestingly, three of his choices made the top twelve list in last week’s 18th birthday book summary.)

Good people of the Internet – Jason Parent.

Name one book:

1 – everyone should read

The Stand, by Stephen King – It is a genre-defining tale of good versus evil that should be required reading.

2 – you would take with you if you were going to be marooned on Mars

The Martian, by Andy Weir – I’d need some chance of being able to grow potatoes. Of course, I’d probably also need potatoes.

My books vary so much in genre and tone that my answer to this question changes daily. But so as not to cop out, I think Wrathbone and Other Stories is one of my best works.

5 – that has influenced you most as a person

Tucker Max’s I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell. The book never answers the question whether beer is, in fact, served in Hell, so I have made it a life-long ambition to drink as much beer as possible before I get there. I’m guessing it’s all mimosas and umbrella drinks down under the earth.

7 – of yours that prospective readers should start with if they want to get to know your work and where they can get it.

That depends on how dark they want to go. I have a couple of novellas priced at $0.99 to allow potential readers to give me a try. But my novels are all stand-alones, so my latest, A Life Removed is as good a start as any (and happens to be set earliest chronologically).

In his head, Jason Parent lives in many places, but in the real world, he calls New England his home. The region offers an abundance of settings for his writing and many wonderful places in which to write them. He currently resides in Southeastern Massachusetts with his cuddly corgi named Calypso.

In a prior life, Jason spent most of his time in front of a judge . . . as a civil litigator. When he finally tired of Latin phrases no one knew how to pronounce and explaining to people that real lawsuits are not started, tried and finalized within the 60-minute timeframe they see on TV (it’s harassing the witness; no one throws vicious woodland creatures at them), he traded in his cheap suits for flip flops and designer stubble. The flops got repossessed the next day, and he’s back in the legal field . . . sorta. But that’s another story.

When he’s not working, Jason likes to kayak, catch a movie, travel any place that will let him enter, and play just about any sport (except that ball tied to the pole thing where you basically just whack the ball until it twists in a knot or takes somebody’s head off – he misses the appeal). And read and write, of course. He does that too sometimes.

Please note I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon sites.

Stephen King has spoken about ‘unearthing stories’, or ‘digging them up’. So this week, the One Book Interview has a geologist turned author. (It’s a terrible intro, I know. Almost a dad joke. Apologies, Mike.)

Good people of the Internet – Mike Watson

Name one book:

1 – everyone should read

There is one book I thoroughly enjoyed reading several years ago. I won’t say it was life-changing, but it was a refreshing change from books I had been reading. It is The Name of the Wind, a fantasy by Patrick Rothfuss. Since then I’ve read the sequel and now the third in The Kingkiller Chronicle is about to come out.

2 – you would take with you if you were going to be marooned on Mars

I think the typical answer is TheBible.

3 – you took a chance on and were pleasantly surprised by

I’m going to have to repeat the book mentioned above. (The Name of the Wind) I’d never heard of the author before hearing him speak at a writer’s conference. It was his debut novel that went on to be on the New York Times bestselling list.

4 – you’ve written that is your favourite

My favorite book and the one most well received is the second in The Jack Trader Adventure series, Treasure of the Anasazi. It’s a thriller/adventure that takes place in southwest Colorado near the town of Durango in association with the cliff dwellings at the Mesa Verde National Park. The entire series has settings in that area.

5 – that has influenced you most as a person

As a person, The Bible. As a writer, rather than a specific book, probably the science fiction genre. Growing up I think I read every science fiction book in the library. I still love the classics of H.G. Wells, Jules Verne, and Edgar Rice Burroughs.

6 – that has influenced you most as a professional

The books I read the most of these days are action/adventure/thriller. My favorite writer of these is Clive Cussler, which I hope has influenced my writing.

7 – of yours that prospective readers should start with if they want to get to know your work and where they can get it.

Any in the Jack Trader Adventure series are typical of my writing style, and all are stand-alone, but if someone would like to read the first in the series, it is The Nestorian Alliance. Similar, but different, think Indiana Jones.

Michael R. Watson, is a writer and self-employed geologist and surveyor, living with his wife in a rural setting of south central Kansas. In his own words:

“In recent years, I have taken a new direction, writing the post-apocalyptic Aftershock series. I have just started book three while beta readers are looking at book two. Book one, Paradise, is currently on Amazon. A chain reaction of earthquakes, possibly triggered by fracking and wastewater disposal, have reached into the mid-continent, causing disaster, panic, and chaos. Beware of the helping hand.”